updated 11:20 am EST, Wed November 9, 2011

HP, Dell, Nokia take top spots

Apple has risen a substantial five spots in the latest edition of Greenpeace's regular "Guide to Greener Electronics" rankings. The company has a score of 4.6 out of 10, nevertheless putting it in fourth place. Leading the charts are HP at 5.9, followed by Dell at 5.1, and Nokia at 4.9. Trailing behind Apple are Philips (4.5), Sony Ericsson (4.2), Samsung (4.1) and Lenovo (3.8).

Apple's position is attributed to several factors, such as progress on sustainable operations. The company also exceeded its own recycling goals in 2010, and ranked high in terms of policies and practices for avoiding conflict minerals. Further kudos were handed out for eliminating PVC plastics and brominated flame retardants from products.

Holding Apple back was a lack of external verification of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as no set target for them. Restoring some credit in terms of energy was Apple's ability to meet or exceed Energy Star efficiency standards, and make use of renewable power. Apple is known to be working on a solar farm for its massive North Carolina datacenter; the latter initially drew fire from Greenpeace because of reliance on a power grid mostly fueled by coal.